Americans win seventh consecutive Presidents Cup
The Americans won the Presidents Cup for the seventh straight time, and this one was no contest.
With most of the work already done, a dominant U.S. team needed only one point from the 12 singles matches Sunday. Kevin Chappell halved the first match with Marc Leishman, and victory was assured when Daniel Berger went 3 up with three to play against Si Woo Kim in the fourth match.
Berger wound up winning his match, and the celebration was on.
The last point came from Phil Mickelson, a 47-year-old on an American team that featured six players in their 20s. Mickelson has played in every Presidents Cup since it began in 1994. This was his 23rd straight team in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. And in his 100th career match, he beat Adam Hadwin , 2 and 1. The final score was 19-11. The Americans fell short of their goal to become the first Presidents Cup team to win all five sessions.
The Internationals won six matches and halved two others. One of those victories belonged to Jhonattan Vegas, who waved his Venezuela flag after beating Jordan Spieth, keeping Spieth winless in singles in his five team competitions as a pro.
President Donald Trump arrived at Liberty National about 45 minutes before the Americans secured the gold trophy that he was to present to them. Trump, the honorary chairman of the matches, is the first sitting president to attend on the final day and present the trophy.
“This is a juggernaut of a U.S. team,” said Nick Price, in his third and final stint of the International captain, all of them losses. “They’re an overpowering team that played some phenomenal golf. It was tough to watch, especially being on the receiving end.” run at his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory, taking the lead with two laps left to win Sunday at Dover International Speedway.
Elliott led 138 laps and seemed poised to break through and reach victory lane for the first time in 70 career starts.
Busch seemed to have the fresher tires on the No. 18 Toyota and reeled in Elliott down the stretch. Busch gave a ho-hum race a thrilling ending and won for the second straight week.
Busch won for the fourth time and is hot at the right time as NASCAR’s playoffs head into the second round.
“I know Chase is hungry, I know he’s been trying for a couple of years to try and get his first Cup Series win,” Busch said. “But man, I saw that carrot hanging out there and I was going to get it. I was going to give it everything I had and fortunately it was enough.”
Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, Daytona 500 champion Kurt Busch and Brickyard 400 winner Kasey Kahne were eliminated as the playoff field was cut from 16 to 12.
Elliott was second, followed by 11-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson.
Truex, Larson, Busch, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are all in the second round.
Top fuel points leader Steve Torrence won the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park for his eighth victory of the season. Torrence had a 3.684-second pass at 329.34 to beat Doug Kalitta in the final round. Torrence has 16 career victories.
Ron Capps won in funny car, Greg Anderson in pro stock and LE Tonglet in pro stock motorcycle in the third of six playoff events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown.